Digital data comes in a variety of forms including audio, video, and imagery, and the amount of such data that can be accessed over networks or that is stored continues to grow exponentially. This is particularly true in the case of digital imagery where digital image capture and storage devices are becoming pervasive in many aspects of our daily lives. As a result of this trend, several issues have arisen including how to organize and retrieve image files readily, efficiently, and economically.
Currently, image files typically include a file header, attribute tags, and image data. These conventional attribute tags include attribute information describing the image according to various standards. Attribute tags can relate to image data structure, data characteristics, image title, date of creation, make and model of the capture device, software used, copyright holder, and artist, for example. Various tags have also been associated with image files within image management software applications using pointers. These types of attribute tags can be searched for or otherwise used to organize image files only inside the particular application with which the files are associated. Tags and pointers have also been generated using software and information input by a user via a graphical user interface. These tags are specifically generated and intended by the user to label the file for future use.
However, as the volume of digital imagery increases and as image file sizes becomes larger, image organization and the ability to locate a particular digital image file become increasingly difficult. Conventional attribute tags often do not provide sufficient distinction among image files such that a user can readily identify image files of interest, or organize the files in a certain way. Tags associated with other types of data files likewise do not provide the level of distinction needed for more sophisticated searching and organization operations. Also, user-generated tags are problematic, as many users have neither the time nor the desire to specifically label data files but still want to be able to search and organize the files.
Attribute tagging designed for a closed system also imposes significant limitations in the search for or transfer of data files between devices and among different environments. Such system often provides an application-specific data file to facilitate the performance of customized actions. For example, an audio-file-based system may provide a user with his/her favorite songs based on a static count of the number of times the user has recently listened to each song. Typically, such information along with user settings are stored in a separate file, which is kept in a separate directory. However, once the user moves the audio data to another system including moving to a CD/DVD for purposes of backup, the link to the separate file, which is usually not transferred, is lost, creating a dangling bond that is not used anymore. This problem also arises if a user accesses his/her files outside the associated application.
As such, there is a need for improved methods for managing digital files including digital images.